After 196 hours of Culinary School

May I present, 1 steak and several (*almost*) perfectly diced potatoes

240 hours to go....

Baked Pumpkin Ziti Alfredo

Call it a minor obsession, but I can't get enough of the autumnal flavors of the season!

1lb Gluten Free Quinoa Ziti (regular pasta will work just fine)
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 lb Sweet Italian Sausage, removed from casings [1]
1 Medium Yellow Onion, small dice
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
15-oz Pumpkin Puree
1 ½ Cup Chicken Stock
¼ Tsp Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
1 ½ Tsp Cinnamon
½ Tsp Nutmeg
1 Cup Heavy Cream
1 ½ Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbs Fresh Sage Leaves, chopped
1 Tbs Fresh Parsley, chopped
Salt & Pepper [2]

Preheat oven to 375º
In a large saucepan bring 4-5 quarts (*4 cups in a quart*) of water and 4 Tbs of salt to a boil. Add pasta and cooks for two minutes less then the instructions indicate (6-8 minutes). Pasta will be a little undercooked; it will finish cooking in the sauce. Drain and rinse with cold water immediately.

Heat Olive Oil in a large saucepan over med-high heat, add Sausage. Once sausage is fully cooked and browned remove from pan and set aside. Using the oil remaining in the pan, sauté onions until translucent. Reduce heat and add garlic, cook for 1 more minute. Stir in Pumpkin Puree, Chicken Stock, Red Pepper Flakes, Cinnamon and Nutmeg until the mixture is smooth and well combined. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and ½ cup Parmesan Cheese. Season with Salt & Pepper.

Mix together Sauce, Noodles, Sausage, Parsley and Sage in the large saucepan. Pour pasta into a 9x13" greased baking pan and top with remaining Parmesan Cheese [3]. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown.

*Veggie-pack your pasta by baking it in a winter squash

• Pre-heat oven to 375º
• Cut squash in half and remove seeds
• Take a small slice off the bottom of each half to create a flat surface, allowing the squash to stand upright.
• Roast squash in a greased glass baking dish, for 30-45 minutes (depending on size), until the flesh is soft but shape is maintained
• Spoon pasta into squash and top with Parmesan Cheese
• Return squash to oven and bake for an addition 10-15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and browned.

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Recipe Notes:
[1] To remove the casing from a fresh, raw link sausage, snip off the end of the sausage with kitchen shears, then squeeze the sausage filling from the casing, like squeezing toothpaste from a tube. - Courtesy of Bon Apetit

[2] This dish will need salt and pepper. Because of all the salty variables (type of sausage, cheese, stock) there is no set amount I recommend. Be sure to season after all the ingredients have been combined.

[3] This a great make-a-head-dinner! Stop here if you are going keep this dish in the freezer. To reheat pasta from the freezer: Allow pasta to defrost in the refrigerated as long as possible (overnight is preferred). Cover pasta with foil and bake in a 350º oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes. Insert butter knife into the center of the pasta to test for doneness. If the inserted portion of the knife comes out hot = the center is hot!

Back to the (virtual) Bar Scene

Everything is moving full steam ahead these days, except for my dating life. With less free time to devote to the bar scene (and the pending hangover the next day), I’m thinking it may be time to sign back onto the virtual bar scene. Being able to ‘get out there’ from the comforts of the couch or when things are slow at the day job sounds good to me.

But what ‘bar’ should I visit? I wasn’t too pleased with Dr. Warren’s last go around and I don’t like my 1 in 15 million odds on match.com. There are still a couple options I have yet to try, like the free site Plenty ‘o Fish, Braniac Dating: to find an intellectual man, or Lonely Sole International if I'm feeling worldly.

What I would like to find is a website the truly understands the important of Location! The island of Manhattan is only 22.96 square miles, but forget about census demographics, it’s a geographic nightmare for singles! Since I don’t have a current romance to use, I’ll use my job for an example. I live 3.65 miles from my office and it takes me $2 and 42 minutes to get there using public transportation or $17 and 25 minutes via cab.

My dream dating site would allow you to narrow your search by subway lines! I’ve been bugging some computer savvy friends to help me launch this idea for awhile now but there has been no progress. Anyone interested is a Share-a-Subway-Line-Singles joint venture?

Think I’m the only single who does not like to transfer lines? The New York Times ran an article on Saturday about this very same topic - When Love is a Schlep

Relationships Out, Romances In!

Remember back in the college days when being in a relationship meant you would meet up at the same bar two weekends in a row? Nowadays if you use the term ‘relationship’ in a conversation someone is bound to ask “Do you think he’s the one?”

Then you have the whole awkward conversation saying, “the 2 hours you spent busting a move on the dance floor were really magically but you are going to wait until you learn his last name and see how he treats his mother before you decide if he’s ‘the one’” To avoid some of the confusion, and judging looks, I’ve decided to erase the word “relationship” from my vocab and will only speak of ‘romances.’

A romance is much harder to define. Meeting eyes with a handsome stranger on the subway, a few hours after one to many vodka sodas, reuniting with a past flame or spending the rest of your life with a soul mate could all be classified as romances. Plus I just like the way “we had a romance” sounds.